Former Nickelodeon stars are speaking out against the prolific creator and producer Dan Schneider for allegedly forcing the young actors into ‘sexualized’ scenes.
In a new report for Insider, the Victorious actress Daniella Monet, 33, claimed that a scene that she was uncomfortable with was left in the final cut of an episode despite her objections to the network.
Although Monet doesn’t solely blame Schneider, who was the creator, executive producer and a writer on Victorious, she also blamed Nickelodeon for allowed sexualized scenes to appear in its live-action shows and for inappropriate behavior to occur on set.
Speaking out: Several actress, including Daniella Monet and Alexa Nikolas, claimed they were subjected to abuse and forced to film ‘sexualized’ scenes on Nickelodeon shows created, produced and written by Dan Schneider (pictured in 2015) in a new Insider exposé
The actress described reaching out to the network after she was forced to film a scene in which she applied lip gloss while eating a pickle, which she worried was too sexual to be broadcast on a kid-centric network.
But Nickelodeon executives apparently sided with Schneider and the creative team over Monet, and the scene was included in the episode.
She added that not only did the executives OK the scene, but its Standards and Practices division would have had to sign off on it as well.
She attributed some of the overly sexual content to the mostly male writers room on the show.
Although she said that Victorious was usually a ‘very PC, funny, silly, friendly, chill’ place, the occasional overly sexual scene could puncture the warm atmosphere.
‘Do I wish certain things, like, didn’t have to be so sexualized?’ she said. ‘Yeah. A hundred percent.’
Overruled: Monet (L) said she asked Nick to cut a scene in which she had to apply lip gloss while eating a pickle, which she found too sexual, but it was allowed to air against her objections; seen with (L–R) Jennette McCurdy, Miranda Cosgrove and Ariana Grande
Sexual associations: Alexa Nikolas recalled Schneider forcing Jamie Lynn Spears to film a scene where she had goo squirted on her face repeatedly, until one take approximated a ‘c** shot’ — in the words of her male costar — which was the take that was selected; seen in 2015
Insider’s exposé notes that ‘none of Schneider’s shows credited more than two female writers in the entirety of their runs,’ while ‘Zoey 101 and Drake & Josh had zero.’
It also references a scene that Jamie Lynn Spears filmed for her series Zoey 101 — which Schneider created, executive produced, co-wrote and even had a guest appearance on — in which she had goo ‘roughly the consistency of an egg white’ splattered onto her face.
Her costar Alexa Nikolas recalled that Schneider wasn’t satisfied with the take and made a crew member squirt her in the face multiple times.
After Spears caught the goo on her forehead during one take, at which point it started to dribble down to her face onto her mouth.
Nikolas recalled Schneider bursting into laughter at the sight, which led other crew members and even Spears’ mother Lynne Spears to erupt into giggles.
‘It’s like a c** shot,’ she recalled one of her male costars saying, before noting that the most sexualized take was the one selected for the episode.
Inappropriate: ‘We’re talking about a minor,’ Nikolas continued. ‘I think Jamie was 13, and they’re squirting stuff on her face to make it look a certain way’; Alexa pictured on the left on Zoey 101
‘We’re talking about a minor,’ Nikolas continued. ‘I think Jamie was 13, and they’re squirting stuff on her face to make it look a certain way.’
Russel Hicks, the former president of content and production at Nickelodeon, disputed that anything inappropriate was allowed to make its way to air.
‘Every single thing that Dan ever did on any of his shows was carefully scrutinized and approved,’ he claimed, adding that the Standards and Practices division read all of the scripts for Schneider’s shows and watched every episode.
The young actors’ parents or caregivers were also on set during shooting.
A source close to Schneider also defended the producer by saying that the ‘goo’ squirted onto Spears was green, ‘just like Nickelodeon’s famous slime,’ and they claimed that ‘This episode aired and was seen by millions of people and (to our knowledge) not one viewer ever had a concern.’
Last week, Nikolas protested outside Nickelodeon’s headquarters in Burbank, California.
She told TMZ that she wants to ‘make Nick safe for kids because, in my personal experience, working on Zoey 101, [I] didn’t feel safe.’
She told Variety: ‘It shouldn’t be a woman having to trail blaze, it should be on the industry itself. … Because a predator’s gonna come and go — there’s always going to be a predator. But if they don’t have a safe haven, then they can’t really perpetuate that abuse.’
Skimpy: Other female actors were reportedly forced to wear revealing clothing, and Schneider allegedly fought for ‘whatever was the most revealing’ when they had to wear bathing suits
Elsewhere in the lengthy piece, Monet (L) — who was 18 when she started filming for Victorious — said that she was often forced to wear clothes on screen that were ‘not age appropriate.’
Elsewhere in the lengthy piece, Monet — who was 18 when she started filming for Victorious — said that she was often forced to wear clothes on screen that were ‘not age appropriate.’
‘I wouldn’t even wear some of that today as an adult,’ she added.
A writer who worked for Schneider also claimed that whenever actress were supposed to be wearing bathing suits, he would urge for them to be given ‘whatever was the most revealing.’
Jennette McCurdy, who started on iCarly before reprising her role on the spinoff Sam & Cat with costar Ariana Grande, avoids naming Schneider directly in her best-selling memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died, though she refers to a figure named only as The Creator who has been assumed to be Schneider.
She said that she was subject to an undesired massage from The Creator, and she also accused the figure of pressuring her into drinking alcohol despite being underage.
He allegedly urged her to try some of his whisky by claiming that he and the cast of Victorious would ‘get drunk together all the time.’
So far, McCurdy has not specified why she refers to the unnamed figure only as The Creator in her memoir.
Creepy: Jennette McCurdy (R) didn’t comment on the piece, but in her new memoir she describes an unnamed figure known as The Creator who urged her to drink alcohol while she was underage and gave her unwanted massages
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